Not a very merry Chrismas
by Screedle
Summary: Something drags the TARDIS into Japan, and things spiral from there; a new, dangerous Data Entity with the power to seal off entire years worth of time, multiple versions of Mikuru in the same place, and several stable time loops occuring at the same place and time... just how many things can go wrong at Christmas?
1. Chapter 1 The Landing

**Chapter 1; The Landing**

The TARDIS was falling.

Not through the sky, mind you, or into a pit, but through time itself.

Less than a minute ago, the Doctor had given the newlyweds the ultimate Christmas present – VIP passes to the _original_ Star Wars screening. With some alone time, the Doctor was travelling to 2062, to celebrate the first Halloween party on Pluto.

Then the cloister bell rang, the console started sparking, and everything went to hell.

The Doctor was spinning a wheel franticly clockwise with one hand and typing with the other.

"_Stop doing that!"_ He yelled as the wheel began spinning counter clockwise.

A lever on the other side of the console switched its position, and a mess of buttons popped out of their pressed positions. The Doctor ran to the other side, pulling the monitor with him. He took a piece of gum out of his pocked, jammed it in his mouth and began 'fixing' everything.

He glanced at the time locator. It was stuck between 2007 and… the end of time.

_Not again, _thought the doctor.

There was a tremendous _smash_, and the doctor flew backwards, hitting his head against the guard rail.

After the shock had passed him, he got to his feet. _Still got my head, and my legs, yes and arms and all of the fingers…_

His hand shot to his throat.

_Bowtie, still cool. Still no fez though, I should get one-_

He spun around.

_-outside. Now where am I this time?_

The Doctor ran to the TARDIS doors, only to find that they wouldn't open. With a bit of a struggle, he managed to undo the lock.

The first thing he noticed was that the outside was splintering in several places, and the lock was a several millimetres down from where it should have been.

The Doctor became aware that there was gum stuck between his teeth. He ran to the console, picked the gum out of his teeth and stuck it to a tiny button, locking it in place.

_Right, now don't go wandering off again, alright? I don't want to find you in another museum like yesterday. Yesterday seven-hundred years from now._

The doctor yanked the doors open once again. The TARDIS was already repairing its exterior. The Doctor was worried every time that happened – ever since the second big bang she was weaker on the outside. He quickly circled round, stroking it as he went, and then started wandering around.

The city was eastern, most likely Japan – nobody had noticed a giant blue box crash in the middle of a public area. He loved it when nobody noticed, it made explanations easier – as in, he didn't have to give one.

But there was a girl watching him, staring even. And he was staring at her.

Most striking details; school uniform, blank stare, and green hair.

She started walking towards the Doctor. He looked around to check there was nobody behind him. She stopped just in front of him, and began a staring contest.

It didn't take long; "RIGHT! Don't do that, it creeps me out, just like your hair. No, sorry, I like green hair, but blue is better. No, red, yes red hair, lovely ginger hair…"

He half expected that to ward her off. It looked like the girl was about to speak, but changed her mind. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver. The girl took a step back.

"So you don't like this, do you?" He said with an inquisitive tone in his voice. He pointed it and pressed the button.

The girl recoiled in horror, like he had just caused her great pain. _No, it couldn't be… the data field was expunged, all except for…_

"Are you a data form, young lady?" said the Doctor. The girl looked taken aback, then said;

"Who are you to know that?"

"The Doctor, look me up, thank you."

She stood completely rigid for a moment.

"Four thousand results are recorded in this area."

"Try searching…further."

She stood still again.

"Five million results for Earth."

"You don't get it?" the Doctor said with a sigh. "Search for… the constellation of Kasterborous, and I'll give you a hint; two-hundred-and fifty-million light-years. Search there for a 'Doctor'."

There was a slightly longer pause from the girl, and then her eyes became wide. She seemed to instantly move several paces back.

"That is not possible." She said with genuine worry in her voice.

"Yes it is, and, I have two more questions; One, did you bring me here?"

"The Thought Entity did not force you to materialize in this location."

"Ok, and second, have you heard of the 'Resident Descanted Being'?"

She gulped.

"What happened to them happened after they lied to me, and got in my way one too many times; if you lie to me or do anything to get in my way, well… yeah."

She took a step back.

"Also, what's your name?"

"Emiri Kimidori."

The Doctor took a moment to take that in.

"They named you after your hair colour. Not bad, reminds me of-"

He looked back, and she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2 Merry Christmas

**Chapter two; Merry Christmas**

December 25th; Christmas day; happy birthday, Mr Christ, and sorry in advance for whatever Haruhi has planned to 'enhance' your birthday.

Alright, it was 9am; I was all curled up in my blankets, half asleep and _still cold_ under three layers, when the doorbell rang. My little sister did little other than open the door when Haruhi charged up the stairs, and started opening every door she could find. When she found my room, she pulled my bed sheets away, rolled me onto the floor, and yelled at me;

"_You have two minutes to get ready before __**I kick your ass, Kyon!**__"_

My phone had been turned off last night, so I decided to check it as I pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt. I had received no less than seventeen messages in the past hour, all to the effect of;

"_You have two minutes to get over here before __**I kick your ass, Kyon!**__"_

As soon as I was ready and had opened my bedroom door, Haruhi grabbed my scarf and dragged me outdoors. What did my parents think? '_Go outside, enjoy the holiday, be young'_, mumbled by my non-caring father.

Two days ago I was in the hospital, but of course Haruhi doesn't care; once she gets going, the four horsemen themselves couldn't stop her walking down the street. She dragged me to the usual place outside the café; all the other guys were already there. Nagato and Koizumi looked like they had been prepared for Haruhi in advance, but Mikuru looked a bit like I must have; untidy hair, random clothes, and that tired look in her eyes.

It was cold enough that if you started crying, your tears would turn to icicles before they hit the ground. A quick glance around me revealed nothing interesting about my surroundings, and Haruhi had even said the day before she had no reason to meet up tomorrow, something I actually found surprising. However if you were like me and had spent any amount of time with Haruhi in-person, you would know that this is exactly like her.

Anyway, why are we here?

"Look around you, idiot!" she said, a tranquil fury in her voice.

I glanced around me again, this time focusing more on what I normally wouldn't; still nothing different, besides a _very gentle_ amount of snow on the ground.

"Look there! There!" She exclaimed, pointing to a bench.

Let's see, a bench, then some trees, then a large blue box that I haven't noticed before.

Wait, what?

Haruhi ran over to it, and we all followed. On closer inspection, it was actually quite strange. It was a big, blue box, as has been said, but it seemed to have windows, and a door of some kind. There was writing over it in English, which I'm not the greatest at, but it said something like _'Police Boxed Phone'_. If I got it wrong, remember that I'm Japanese myself.

So, what is it then? What have you done now, Haruhi?

"It's a mysterious thing!" she said with such glee. "Do any of you know what it is?"

Koizumi, Asahina and I shook our heads; Nagato just stared at it and did nothing. When she realised I was staring at her, she snapped back to reality.

"None", she said. Liar.

"Kyon, it's your job to look it up! 'Police phone box', what could it be?" Haruhi spurted out, her glee escalating even higher. "Sounds like a sci-fi spaceship name, doesn't it?"

"Hey, Haruhi" I said. "What if this isn't anything weird, eh? It could be one of those modern art things that are becoming popular. I heard that they made a giant arch somewhere in France lately, and it seems loosely connected to this thing, whatever it is."

Haruhi was barely listening, trying to pry open the doors with all her implausible strength.

"Well even if it is an art thing, it's still strange it appeared overnight, isn't it?"

Well, it's Christmas. Maybe it's a festive thing, or an advertisement for some new game or something. Why does it have to be alien related?

"Look Kyon, it has a door handle, it has hinges, and it has a keyhole, so I think there's something inside waiting for us! Koizumi, go find a crowbar!"

Oh god, she really wants to vandalise that thing, doesn't she?

"Miss Suzumiya, I don't think we should tamper with it until we find out what it really is. What if it really is an art project? We could get in a lot of trouble." He was struggling to find words.

Haruhi paused for a minute.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

So, what, I can say whatever I want and Haruhi won't listen, but if Koizumi says it she'll take it to heart instantly?

"Everyone meet back here at five, and be on time this time! If this thing isn't an art piece I'm tearing it open with a chainsaw if I have to!"

And with those words, she stormed off.

"What an interesting turn of events" said Koizumi.

"So, what is this thing?" I said like a dull knife.

"A temporal-spatial anomaly." said Asahina.

Has she even said anything else?

She continued. "A temporal-spatial anomaly like this, might _classified information_, unless it's actually from _classified information_, in which case, _classified information_ might occur."

Ah, once again the dreaded speech impediment. Can somebody explain it in straight Japanese?

"It would appear that no matter what we try, it cannot move." said Koizumi.

"Well, what is it?"

Koizumi and Asahina exchanged looks.

"A psychic time machine created by an alien race."

…

Damnit, Haruhi.


	3. Chapter 3 The Classroom

The Doctor was standing outside a school building. In his hand, he was holding a strange device; a compass, with the sonic screwdriver taped to the bottom, a metal rod sticking out of the North end, and copper wire wrapped around the whole thing. The needle was pointing directly at the school building. The time was close to midnight. The Doctor had figured out that it was December 24th – Christmas eve.

The Doctor walked over to the main gate, and pointed the device at the lock. There was a small _click,_ and he was able to effortlessly push it aside. The device led the Doctor back and forth across the school grounds, until he finally came to a classroom on one of the main corridors. He pointed the device at the lock, only to reveal it was already unlocked. He was cautious, and opened the door slowly.

All except for one of the desks had chairs laid upside down upon them. The one without a chair was at the back of the room, against the window. The Doctor silently went over to it, and lifted its cover. There was nothing inside. He felt annoyed, and looked back at his device. It had stopped working. Not concentrating, he walked back over to the door, wondering what went wrong, and hit the wall. Brought back to his senses, the Doctor realised that while he wasn't looking, the door had stopped existing.

He already knew how to react; he sighed, and without looking behind him said:

"I told the entity to leave me alone."

Slowly, he did turn around. Standing there, at the mystery desk, was another schoolgirl. She was shorter than the other one, and had silver hair. She stared at the Doctor, before responding;

"This space is sealed from the outside world, accessible only by a quantum space-fold which only I may control. The entity has no power here, only I."

The Doctor blinked once. All furniture had disappeared from the room, and the view outside the windows was simply a gray fog, which gave off a dim amount of light. The girl took two steps forward.

"Doctor, I know of you, and soon you will know about me."

"Well, could we start now?" He replied. The girl thought for a moment, then nodded. "What is your name, for starters?"

"Yuki Nagato."

"Alright and why did you bring me here? Why did you trick me?"

"To preserve the ontological balance of the time vortex, and prevent granting the Skirus another opening."

"And how do you know you're doing that?"

"You told me I was."

The Doctor thought on this.

"What _is_ a 'Skirus', exactly?"

The girl remained silent.

"Ok then, what do you mean by 'granting them an opening'?"

"They are able to manifest themselves whenever an opening in both time and space presents itself, for example the TARDIS becoming disconnected from its interior."

This struck a nerve.

"What do you mean? When did this happen?"

"It already has."

"What caused it? In fact, why do you know all this? When do I tell you this?"

"You will find out everything soon."

The walls and roof began to fade away.

"Tomorrow, 11 am, go back to your TARDIS."

The floor was disappearing too.

"Look for a male high-school student. You need him."

And then the room was gone, and so was Yuki.

The Doctor blinked, and he was standing outside the school gates, which were wide open. His head was sore.

Suddenly, the gates slammed themselves shut, and with another _click,_ deadlocked themselves.


	4. Chapter 4 Madman with a Box

_Author Note: Dear readers, I realise that I haven't updated in many months, and at this rate the story will never be finished. A lot of things have happened in my life recently, meaning that many things have phased into the background, including this story. I'm returning to this story because I've noticed that people still are reading this, and are waiting for more. So I promise to finish this._

**Chapter 4: The Madman with a Box**

That was the weirdest dream I had ever had.

But as I thought more and more about it, it seemed like less of a dream and more of a vision.

I sat, curled up beneath my bed sheet yet still cold, trying to make sense of whatever I had just dreamt about. Yuki, our school, the man I met earlier-

Oh, this is his fault isn't it?

As I sat up and rubbed my eyes, I realised there was something glowing in the corner of the room. Sitting on my computer desk was the strange...thing Yuki had given me as a Christmas present.

My first thoughts when she handed it to me were right; it wasn't meant to be an actual gift after all.

* * *

_Earlier that same day:_

Koizumi just said that this box involved aliens, time travel and psychic powers all at the same time. I rubbed my forehead as my mind tried to cope; damnit Haruhi, why must you make our lives so complicated?

"Alright," I said, exasperated. "Explain away."

"As I said," Koizumi began. "It would appear that an alien race created this device, gave it the ability to travel through time and space, and whoever operates it gains a psychic link with it."

That didn't clear up a lot. And, how do you even know it can do all that?

"T-the people... form my time, warned me about this...I-it means that..."

Asahina-san looked down at her feet.

"Something bad will happen."

Even though I expected it already, those words pounded into me like a stake into Dracula's heart. Even though I'm a pretty good action survivor already, if this involves aliens, time travel and psychic powers all at once, how bad could this get?

"Hey!" called a man's voice. "Scoot!" He sounded European.

A tall man in a tweed jacket and blue shirt with a bowtie walked over to us and made movements for us to move away from the blue box. Asahina-san looked to be on the edge of tears, Koizumi's smile disappeared and Yuki... well, I didn't notice at the time but she wasn't there anymore.

"What are you children doing crowding around this... err... modern art?" Defiantly European, possibly English? Anyway, if I was any less intelligent maybe I would have believed him, but I could just tell that this man... if he was a man, was someone to be wary of.

"We are sorry sir." Said Koizumi; he glanced at me in a way that said 'we need to go'.

And so, we apologised and walked away. I glanced back just before we were out of sight; the man was able to open the door, but I didn't see what was inside.

I bumped into Asahina-san as she stopped walking. She and Koizumi turned to me.

"That's him then, is it?"

"Yes." squeaked Asahina-san. "I'm sorry but, I'm really not allowed to talk about him."

"Are you certain? You can't say anything?" Koizumi asked.

"Just...one little thing." She squeaked, and then paused for what felt like forever.

"Doctor."

There was silence; A doctor of what, exactly?

"Of everything."

She then turned sharply, and ran off. Koizumi looked at me with a dejected face.

"See you around."

I watched Koizumi walk away too. Since it was expected to be grey and cold all day, I decided to go home as well. I turned around, only to have Yuki staring right at me.

It was then I realised, she hadn't been there since Haruhi left.

"Take this."

She handed me a completely blank box that looked like cardboard, but was made of some smooth plastic. From what I could tell, it was just a solid slab of the stuff; maybe she didn't understand how presents worked?

"Merry Christmas."

As soon as she said that, she walked away.

* * *

It had confused me all day why Yuki had given me that thing. The rest of the day went fine, though; presents were given and received and Christmas food was eaten. Then, after that strange dream, I woke up to find Yuki's 'gift' glowing.

I fumbled my way out of my bed sheets, and walked slowly towards it. I moved a CD case off it careful not to touch the box itself.

On the upright face was a very strange symbol; it was a bunch of circles and squiggly lines intersecting one another; this is what was glowing. I carefully turned the box over. On the other side there was a crudely drawn hand and an arrow, pointing to five holes. Because I was still drowsy, without thinking I placed my fingers and thumb into the slots; all five of them pressed buttons.

I then became wide awake, as I felt something prick my thumb; I recoiled my hand, and saw a very tiny drop of blood come out of it.

The holes in the box and the symbols on it disappeared, replaced by the words;

'DNA SAMPLE MATCH'

I then realised I just gave whatever this thing is my DNA; what would it do, clone me? Was this a test? Did I just make a huge mistake?

First two; no. Last one; probably.

The box then started levitating into the air, all of its faces glowing. I walked backwards in panic and fell onto my bed, when suddenly-

CLUNK!

The middle of the box had just rotated 90 degrees, making it look from my angle like a giant English 'H'.

CLUNK! CLUNK!

The box, or rather the machine, started transforming, all of it folding and bending in different ways until...

Until it became some sort of radar gun with a headset attached. It stayed floating in midair.

My mind said not to touch it, but I knew I was meant to; I got up, and plucked it out of the air. It felt strangely light. Putting the headset on, I started hearing a strange beeping sound.

I looked at the device; there was no trigger, so it wasn't an actual gun, but there were two knobs on one side, labelled like so;

_Wibbly - Wobbly_

_Spacey – Wacey_

I'm pretty sure if it wasn't important I would have hit my head with it. I then realised that these were written in Western characters, and I had understood them with ease. I examined the device thoroughly, and saw written on the bottom;

"Follow the beeps at midnight"

Again, that was written in western characters, and I recognised it too easily for how I read the writing on the blue box earlier.

I then did a double take; it said at midnight. I looked at my clock; five minutes to go.

I have to sneak out in the middle of the night to find god knows who or what Yuki wants me to find.


	5. Chapter 5 The Discovery

**Chapter 5: The Discovery**

It was early in the morning, when non-working citizens were sound asleep in their homes, unaware of the commotion that would soon take place.

Inside a closed office building in the centre of town, the TARDIS materialised; sure enough, the doctor came out, armed with nothing more than his sonic screwdriver.

The TARDIS had materialised inside a small room filled with boxes and broken printers. There was a single, small window, and a tiny light dangling from the ceiling. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the light, and pressed a button, turning the light on. He then proceeded to scan the room, but found nothing. He then went from the door, unlocked it, and stepped outside, to be met with rows and rows of cubicles.

At the same time, on the ground floor, a high school student found his way to the building, being led by a strange radar device. To his surprise, the front door was unlocked, as was every door he came across; this reinforced the idea that he was supposed to find something here.

Cautiously, the boy made his way up to the second floor. The strange device started beeping faster as he got closer and closer to one of the many cubicles.

Carefully, he peered in. The device was beeping incredibly fast. The boy took off the earpiece and set it on his neck. He then crouched, and moved the chair out of his way.

There, lying under the desk was a large, vaguely humanoid figure, which seemed to be looking back at him.

"...Hello?" whispered Kyon.

The figure outstretched what appeared to be two arms, and dragged itself out.

Its resemblance to something human was even vaguer when it wasn't in shadow; it appeared to be made of random material one would find in an office. Its eyes were smashed light bulbs, its nose was a stapler, and its mouth was just a large gap made to look like a smile, with teeth made of broken glass.

Kyon leapt back as the creature made a swipe at his leg; its fingers were broken pens, its hand was crumpled up paper, and its arm was made of pipe segments.

Kyon immediately bolted for the stairs, only to run into someone who turned into the room.

"What are you doing here?" The ominous figure called out; he wasn't talking to Kyon, he was speaking to the creature.

He then pointed something resembling a pen, which made a buzzing noise and glowed green. Kyon turned to see the creature spark and collapse.

Kyon was able to recognise the man.

"You're that guy... with the box!"

"Oh, yes that's me. Now RUN!"

The man grabbed Kyons arm and pulled him up the stairs.

"Hey- gah! What are you doing, we need to get out of-"

"No we can't, they're downstairs too."

As if on cue, _something_ made a screeching noise from downstairs.

"Quick, we can hide in here!"

The Doctor pulled Kyon into the small room the TARDIS was in. Kyon ran over to the window.

"We're on the third floor, maybe there's some rope in here or-"

"Oh we don't need that, let's hide in here."

The Doctor casually went over to the TARDIS and opened it.

"What, another art thing?" Kyon said. "But it's made of wood! We'll be stuck in there!"

The Doctor didn't react, and nonchalantly walked inside.

Kyon heard something screeching from outside; he ran to the TARDIS, forced the doors open, and walked inside.

Met with the huge interior, Kyon lost all function to his legs. He stood there, his brain like many more before him struggling to comprehend what he was looking at.

The Doctor, with a smug grin on his face, was leaning against the console, hand on a lever.

"Welcome to the TARDIS." He said, and then pulled down on the lever.

The TARDIS sprang to life, started to rumble, and then made the most wonderful sound in the universe.

And then, it dematerialised.


	6. Chapter 6 Memorise Memories

**Chapter 6: Memorise Memories**

Kyon rubbed his hand over his forehead and through his hair. His mouth was agape, and he was still leaning against the door. The Doctor, with a smug grin on his face, was strolling around the TARDIS console, flipping switches and acting clever.

Kyon worked up the willpower to say;

"It says something about my life that I don't think this is a dream."

The doctor turned to look at him.

"I figured that when you were wandering around that building."

Kyon walked up to the console, intimidated by all of the controls.

"So, back in the plaza, you shooed us away because that piece of 'Modern Art' is bigger on the inside?"

"Yes, that's why, among other things." The Doctor nudged Kyon out of the way to rotate a dial.

"And... what was that thing?"

The Doctor paused.

"I don't know. Someone I spoke to said it was one thing but they lied."

He stood there, starting into space, deep in thought. He shook his head, and then looked straight at Kyon.

"Believe it or not, even with a time machine we don't have enough time to have a lengthy discussion about our lives so..."

The Doctor raised his hands.

"- I'm going to read your memories."

Kyon looked sceptically at him.

"How?"

The Doctor put his hands to Kyon's temples.

"You'll find old memories cropping up; if there's anything you don't want me to see, imagine a door and close it, but I need to know what you know about those things back there."

The Doctor closed his eyes, and suddenly Kyon was plunged into a mental pool of his own thought; every day at school, every name of every classmate, every birthday and holiday, all of it was there. Kyon closed off his old school entirely, and a few embarrassing memories here and there.

And then, there were people he hadn't met; Different ages, mostly girls, all of them knew the Doctor. And then there we fantastic creatures, monsters and aliens of all descriptions, and then there were men; Ten different men, all of them similar but distinct, all of them brilliant and fantastic, all of them were the Doctor that stands here now.

And then, Haruhi Suzumiya; the person who had changed his life so much, and she didn't even know it-

The Doctor took his hands away. His eyes were wide, and he backed away.

"How'd you do that?" He said, taken aback.

Kyons' thoughts were going wild. He had new memories, memories that the Doctor should have.

"You're the Doctor." He said thoughtlessly.

The Doctor paused. "Yes I am."

"You're 913 years old."

"...What?"

"You left Rose Tyler in a parallel world with Mickey Smith and her mother."

"...Sorry, how did you-"

"You stole this type 40 TARDIS, but it also stole you."

"Stop-!"

"You don't know where Susan is and sometimes regret not telling her that-"

The Doctor grabbed Kyon's shoulders.

"Snap out of it!"

The Doctor slapped Kyon. He was stunned, but eventually said;

"...What's happening to me?" Kyon said, his eyes wide open with fear.

"I don't know, something about you is causing-"

"A human-time lord Meta crisis, like the one that happened to Miss Noble, except you didn't give me time lord DNA."

The Doctor paused for a moment, and then sighed.

"Yes, like that."

Once again, the Doctor put his hands to Kyon's temples. After a moment, he let go again.

Kyon started breathing heavily.

"What just happened to me?"

The Doctor pushed a lever up.

"Somehow, when I looked into your memories, you took mine. All of them, all at once, would have collapsed your mind. So, I've locked them away. They're still there, but you can't passively remember them; you have to try."

He looked at Kyon with a solemn look.

"Now, while we were searching the building, I was able to find a location for where those things came from. I've already been there, and so have you."

The Doctor lowered the lever. The TARDIS engines quietened.

"Your _school_."


	7. Chapter 7 Time for a Change

Chapter 7: Time for a Change

The school was empty. Nobody was there, nobody needed to be there. There was nothing in any locker, nothing under any desk. Save for a few insects here and there, it was completely deserted, completely devoid of life. The sun had just begun to lift itself above the horizon, casting radiant light over the city through the clouds.

And then, directly outside the gates to the school, a wonderful, alien noise sounded, echoing throughout the grounds, signalling the arrival of the most wonderful man in the universe.

The TARDIS door opened, and out walked the Doctor and Kyon. Once again, the Doctor put the screwdriver to the gate lock, pushed it aside with relative ease, and then gestured for Kyon to take the lead.

As they opened the front doors and walked past the lockers, Kyon couldn't help but wonder;

"What are we looking for?"

"Oh something big and probably obvious, although I didn't find it last time I was here, so it might be tiny and hard to spot, maybe invisible."

"...You've been here before?"

"Oh yeah, last night in fact, but ah... I had to go to that office."

"...Were you kicked out?"

The Doctor glanced at him.

"What makes you think that?

"Ah... nothing."

The Doctor pulled out the sonic and started scanning; Kyon had a nagging feeling that he knew exactly what the Doctor was looking for; the SOS clubroom. They began to go up a set of stairs, when there was a large

CLANG!

Both of them stopped moving, and turned slowly to face the noise.

CLANG!

"Is there someone there?" called the Doctor.

CLANG!

He pointed his screwdriver and started scanning. He went back down the stairs, and started moving towards the source; Kyon followed hesitantly. The Doctor went straight for a particular locker; Kyon's. The Doctor tired to open the locker multiple times with the sonic, but couldn't.

"Well, that's odd, who puts a stasis lock on a shoe locker? That's stupid, now we'll have to open it the normal way."

Kyon nudged the Doctor aside and started to enter the combination.

"It's my locker." He said bluntly. "But I didn't put anything in it-"

When he entered the last number, the door flung itself open, revealing a small, metal rodent, which sat there completely still, observing the Doctor and Kyon. Both of them jolted back, and the Doctor started to back away.

"Alright, that's not what we're here for." He whispered nervously.

"Then what is it?" Kyon replied.

"I'll tell you what it isn't-"

The Doctor backed away faster.

"-FRIENDLY!" He called as the metal rodent leapt out, missing Kyon's head by mere inches.

Both of them began to bolt it up the stairs, the mouse scurrying after them with improbable speed. The Doctor and Kyon began sprinting down the main corridor.

"What is that thing?" cried Kyon.

"Imitation cyber mat, meant to alert the leader for intruders!"

"What, there are Cybermen now?"

"_Imitation_ cyber mat, probably copied from the last invasion!"

"You mean that last invasion that got wiped from time?"

Both of them skidded around a corner.

"Yes, but you shouldn't know that-!"

A door burst open, revealing a horrible scrap monster, like the one form the office. They ran past before it could react, stampeding up a flight of stairs. Kyon then realised they were headed for what Haruhi had called 'the old building'.

The Doctor whipped out his screwdriver again, and started franticly waving it about. As he did, another door they passed burst open, revealing another scrap creature, which attempted to grab Kyon, missing once again by mere inches...

"Up those stairs!" The Doctor called.

There was no doubt now, thought Kyon, the were headed straight for-

"In here!"

-the SOS clubroom.

The Doctor grabbed the handle, turned it with great speed, and rammed the door open; when he was inside, he seemed to lose focus, and almost tripped onto the table. Kyon grabbed the door, slammed it shut, and then turned the lock.

They were now in the headquarters of all the SOS' mischief; the main computer sat on its desk at the end of the room, all the laptops were stacked on an end table, and all of the books were on their lonely shelves.

The Doctor was reacting very strangely to all of this; he held his hand over his mouth, eyes wide with a distant look. Kyon had grabbed one of the foldable chairs and stacked it against the door handle.

"This is it." The Doctor finally muttered. "This is what I was looking for; it wasn't a thing, it was a room."

He turned, with a tremendous grin on his face, to face Kyon.

"This room has about seven different energies washing over it: the life-starting ray from Eden five, the radiation from Yognus ten, the last impedimentary wave from Patrons Kippur, so much is happening at once in this room alone; nothing like this will ever happen anywhere else, all of the energy is moving with the room as the Earth moves, colliding with it perfectly."

The Doctor pulled out a chair and sat on it.

"You humans really don't know what you miss."

Kyons eyes wandered around the room like he had never seen it before; he could recall Koizumi saying that Haruhi subconsciously chose this room because waves and forces collided with each other, but to think that this man here could feel it all was something else.

His gaze drifted towards a board stuck to the wall, with many pictures pinned to it from throughout the year; he thought back to all the weird yet wonderful things that had happened because of Haruhi, and couldn't help but smile gently.

"So, why haven't they burst in here?" Kyon said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room.

The Doctor looked up. "Because of all the energies hanging over this place, could be one thing; problem is they can't get in, the Zester wave would nullify them in an instant, and they would just fall apart, there has to be _something_ else with this room."

The Doctor's gaze turned to the board, and his eyes wandered over the photos; he stood up suddenly, his expression changed.

"You're part of this club?" the Doctor exclaimed. Kyon gave a confused look.

"Yeah, didn't you see that with the thought exchange? I'm pretty sure I didn't block it off."

The Doctor stumbled over and ripped one of the photos off the board; it showed all five members smiling at the camera, back from the first day of the island vacation, before the murder mystery drama.

"No! I didn't see any of this! It's like I saw a different you – how often do you come in here?"

"Pretty much every afternoon since I joined school."

The Doctor started taking more photos off the wall, holding them up to his eyes then tossing them on the table.

"If all of you are involved with this room, you're all in more danger than you can believe!"

"We're in a lot of trouble anyway..." Kyon muttered.

The Doctor put the last photo on the table, and then looked inquisitively at Kyon.

"What do you mean?"

Kyon realised the consequences of what he just said.

"Well..."

He slid the group photo over, and then pointed at Haruhi.

"She's a reality warper."

He pointed at Mikuru.

"Time traveller."

He pointed at Yuki.

"Alien robot."

And finally, he pointed at Koizumi.

"Esper."

The Doctor stared blankly at the photo, before taking it and holding it right up to his eyes; His mouth moved but no sound came out. Eventually he said;

"Oh, that's brilliant."

A loud BANG came from the door. In synchronisation, both faces of the Doctor and Kyon turned to shock as a large hand SMASHED the glass and started scrambling for the doorknob. The Doctor reflexively pulled out the sonic and aimed it at him; as soon as he pressed the button, the centre of it snapped in half, and the tip started giving off sparks, and the Doctor dropped it.

"No, no, no, don't do this again!" he yelled as he scrambled to pick it up. "Two of the waves are causing it to feed back, I need something stronger!"

He turned sharply, leaped over to the computer, and started tearing apart the casing.

"What are you doing?" yelled Kyon.

"Get me some sort of string!" The Doctor yelled as he started pulling apart the interior.

Kyon pulled a book off the shelf, took out a bookmark, and untied the string from it; meanwhile the creature was trying to scrape itself into the room through the tiny window. The Doctor snatched the string, and started tying a jumble of components to the sonic.

"Dooooc-tooooor..." called the creature.

Parts of it were falling off, but it was able to stretch its long, terrible scrap hand to the lock, and with a mighty CLICK, the door swung open, and the creature began wedging itself out of the window.

As it forced itself out, more pieces of scrap flying off it, the Doctor leapt up, spun around and pointed the screwdriver, now fitted with random computer components, right at it. The creature raised its arms menacingly, and the Doctor pressed the button and the sonic shot a pulse of multicoloured energy directly at the creature, hitting it in what one could assume to be a chest.

The creature fell apart instantly, leaving a pile of junk and a single, glowing, blue diamond-like gem. The Doctor and Kyon breathed heavily.

"I'll get you a new computer." Said the Doctor, as he walked over and picked up the gem. "I had to boost the sonic, filter out the waves but use the resonant energy to disable it."

The Doctor set the screwdriver on the table; smoke was emanating from the centre.

"Got to let that recharge for a while, now, what's this about your friends?"


	8. Chapter 8 Pursuit of Chronology

Chapter 8: Pursuit of Chronology

It's a strange thing, what we can and can't remember; Sometimes, we can remember events perfectly, most of the time we can remember what happened but nothing specific, and other times we forget entirely until someone reminds us. This is what it felt like for me; I had a lot of knowledge locked away in my head, nagging away, but I couldn't remember any of it unless something similar came up. Take the imitation cyber mat, for instance; when the Doctor said what it was, I could recall the last worldwide invasion, and from that I could remember the big fuss over the 'ghosts', and from that I could remember my mother insisting that the one living in our house was her dead aunt.

But of course, none of that happened; I recall that the TARDIS exploding created cracks in the universe which started absorbing memory itself, thus keeping the Earth once more oblivious to all the aliens thrown at it every day. But as soon as I stopped thinking directly about it, I couldn't recall anything about the TARDIS exploding or all of the Cybermen.

All of this drummed in the back of my head as I sent ten minutes explaining everything that had happened in the last year, from the formation of the SOS to the Camel Cricket data life form, all 15,000 repetitions of summer, and my previous escapades in time travel. I made sure to mention that he should never _ever_ use the name 'John Smith' around Haruhi, for the risk of turning the world inside out.

As I explained it all, the Doctor had been examining the glowing blue gem that the scrap creature dropped; He didn't interrupt besides an occasional, random question. At the end of it all, I had worked out my own question;

Just what is Haruhi Suzumiya?

I asked, and he didn't respond; I couldn't tell if it was because he didn't know then, or that he did know and couldn't tell me. However, I do know that after I asked him, he paused for a moment, and then went back to tinkering with the gem.

Less than a minute later, something clicked inside the gem, and it turned bright crimson.

Whispering could be heard coming from every direction, all of them saying "Doctor" in a rather ominous manner. Both the Doctor and I started looking around nervously; I looked out the window, and could see some of those creatures moving about in some of the classrooms below us.

Something clicked inside it again, and it returned to being blue.

"I think we should go." said the Doctor, pocketing the gem and standing up abruptly.

Good plan, what with all the scrap creatures lurking outside, I'm sure we'll get out safely.

"Ah, but we have this." He said, holding up the blue crystal.

The Doctor then went over to the window, and threw it outside.

"Psychic wave will draw them to it like wasps to vinegar."

I then cautiously opened the door, peering out into the corridor; nothing was stirring from both directions. The Doctor and I crept out of the clubroom, and started walking in the direction away from the stairs.

We both exchanged glances, and then looked back in front to see that three of the creatures had suddenly appeared.

Of course it wasn't that easy.

We turned around and saw that a bunch of them had made their way up the stairs too.

Tell me again why we thought it was a good idea to leave?

We turned back to the original three, and saw something peculiar; behind the three of them, the air itself seemed to shimmer and distort, and bulge, and then with a flash of light, a person appeared.

They were about as tall as the Doctor was, and at least appeared to be a girl; however, something was off, reaching into the uncanny. At first glance she looked normal, but when you looked closely, her face seemed to be chipped like ceramic, her hair looked too thick to be natural, and just her presence gave the feeling I had whenever Asakura tried to kill me. And, creepiest of all, they never stopped smiling.

"_Hello __Doctor, __nice __to __meet __you __isn__'__t __it __yes __I __think __it __is!__"_ they screeched rapidly in a dry, loud voice, with incorrect enunciation and bad sentence structure, as if they had never spoken before.

The Doctor whipped out his sonic-

"_I think that's enough of that yes I think it certainly is!"_

The sonic screwdriver sparked, causing the Doctor to drop it, and it burst into flames on the floor.

The Doctor glared menacingly at them, and said "What are you?"

"_Oh you're smart haven't you found out by now!"_

The Doctor paused. "I thought I did, but I was misled."

In a way that didn't seem possible, the girl smiled harder than before.

"_We __are __the __Discord __Paradise; __we __are __what __are __left __of __an __ancient __data __being, __far __older __than __your__ '__IDSE__' __nonsense!__"_

"What do you want, then?"

"_We want proper bodies! We want a proper form, not any of these bodies, mashed together from scrap! Even this body of mine is salvaged, left over data taken from the RDB before it fell."_

She grinned even harder. Goddamn it, how does she keep smiling harder when her mouth is already from ear to ear?

"_Wasn't it YOU that killed them, Doctor?"_

For a moment, the Doctor's face turned to that of shame.

"If you just ask, I can help. I can find you a new world, new body, anything. Just stop what you're doing here."

"_Oh it's too late for that Doctor, indeed it is! We already have plans set in motion, like this!"_

In perfect synchronisation, the three creatures in front of her reached into their chests, and pulled out guns.

I should tell you now that I was just listening to all this, obviously, and broke out in sweat and stepped back at the sight of this.

"_Well Doctor, thanks for the TARIDS, yes please thank you!"_

"No, don't, just listen to me...!"

"_Taaaaaake aim!"_

All three of them pointed their guns directly at the Doctor.

"Just stop, right now, I can help!"

"_Taaaaaake aim!"_

All three of them lowered their weapons, and then pointed at us again the exact same way.

"If you... just..."

"_Taaaaaake aim!"_

Once again, they lowered and raised their weapons.

Both the Doctor and I were beginning to see a pattern here; every time, the girl called out the exact same way, and all the creatures did the exact same thing. We exchanged glances, the Doctor picked up his sonic, and we began to slowly walk towards the girl.

"_Taaaaaake aim!"_

The Doctor reached over to tap her shoulder, when suddenly a huge burst of smoke and electricity surrounded her.

"Temporal feedback loop, caught in the same ten seconds."

I barely understand it now, but back then I understood perfectly.

"What caused it?" I said.

"Not sure, but maybe we shouldn't find out." The Doctor said, making his way towards the stairs, sliding past the now frozen scrap creatures.


	9. Chapter 9 Temporal Distortion

Chapter 9: Temporal Distortion

As the Doctor and I cautiously worked our way out of the school, passing countless scrap creatures that were completely frozen in place, I began to realise that I was starting to think and act just like the Doctor; whether this was good or bad was one topic up for debate. I could tell this because I was making nonsense connections between everything I knew about the situation, and everything I 'knew', after the memory share.

After a long silence;

"They aren't moving because the feedback is getting stronger." He said.

In that case, what's keeping us safe? For that matter, what's causing it?

"Maybe we haven't been exposed to the trigger quite enough."

I took his silence about the cause as 'I don't know, and if I admit it I might well freak out'.

Suddenly, steam started bellowing out of one of the creatures not too far ahead of us, even though it remained frozen in the air, its mangled hands (fingers made of plastic spoons) outstretched as if it was about to fall over.

"The loop has almost flattened out, and it's about to revert to its original state".

Basically, the amount of time that kept repeating was slowly becoming absolutely 0 seconds, and once that happens the loop breaks itself, releasing the creature. Now I was wondering, why _did_ the Doctor think it was a good idea to wander out of the room when he just destroyed one of them?

Of course, he was silent about this; maybe he had just hoped that blue crystal thing would have worked, but maybe he should have waited a little longer? Also, why didn't he assume that at least one of them was smart? It has to be said, that 'Discord Paradise' person went straight for the kill, rather than listening to the Doctor weasel his way out of danger.

"Hey, why did you think it was a good idea to leave the room? I mean, you could have given the crystal a little more time to work."

As I spoke those words, a strong sense of Déjà-vu drummed in the back of my head. And then, I thought about how smart the 'Discord Paradise' person was for going straight for the kill. Then I wondered why the Doctor thought it was a good idea to leave without giving the crystal more time to work.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had wandered on ahead, turned around slowly, and came running back.

If you haven't figured it out, I'm now caught in my own loop. It was hard to focus, but I was aware of it; Every time I tried to think or act differently, I went right back to how smart the 'Discord Paradise' person was for going straight for the kill.

As I desperately tried to break the cycle, to call out something, anything, I felt like someone smashed a huge weight against my head, and I wondered why the Doctor thought it was a good idea-

I felt an extreme surge of heat, as a massive amount of steam suddenly surrounded my body; I realised the Doctor had just grabbed my hand and manually broken the loop.

In a nutshell, he had to do that because we aren't beings connected to any sort of data-based life form, even a half broken one, once the loop became 0 seconds long, I would have vanished out of existence; things like that are never fun.

As we both walked out of the school, and the Doctor locked the gates again, I decided to voice my mind.

"You know, it's weird, but I think I'm thinking more like you do."

The Doctor gave me a short glance.

"That's a bad thing."

"Ah yes, right; Well, once this is all over I'll sort it out, but right now it could be handy, couldn't it?"

That means you don't know how to fix it.

It's a difficult thing, having a change of perspective. As I walked into the TARDIS, I contemplated how I now saw things differently; the sun, slowly setting in the sky was no longer just 'the sun', but it was a function of gravity and time, a star that lasts for a relatively short time of around 8 billion years until it goes out in the year 5.5/apple/26.

Without realising it, I think about the mechanics of the universe, about spirals and numbers, hypotenuse and pivots, how light travels, how sound works, and most importantly, why my phone is able to go off.

Wait, my phone?

I'm standing not a few feet from the TARDIS doors, which the Doctor closes behind me as I pull my phone out of my pocket. Without looking at the number, I can make a guess to who it is.

That's right, her.

"Damnit Kyon, where the hell have you been today? I called everyone a dozen times, and only Koizumi picked up the first time, and even then he was busy! What's your excuse?"

Before I can say a word in response, Haruhi began yelling in my ear again. I glanced at the Doctor, who was hovering over the controls, giving me a 'make it quick' look.

I interrupted Haruhi, and gave her a quick speech about how she shouldn't count on everyone being available at all times of every day, and waited for her response.

I got none.

She didn't say a word, I couldn't even hear her breathe; there was just silence.

"Hello again."

My heart might well have stopped beating for a moment, because I could feel my body weaken when I heard it – that forced, rasping voice.

It continued.

"We have her. Tell him that we have her. Tell him... that we have them all."

Faint static in the background began to become louder.

"This is a challenge."

They hung up. I closed my phone, and turned to the Doctor. It was as if he could tell what happened just from my face.


	10. Chapter 10 The Time Lock

Kyon was flung to the floor, head smacking against the glass panel with enough force to leave a nasty bruise.

Scrambling to his feet, Kyon collided with the Doctor as the TARDIS lurched sideways.

"Get the lever down!" yelled the Doctor, face fixed in an agitated scowl

Despite his transfixed grimace, the Doctor flailed his body around wildly, flinging switches and levers with panicked fever. Kyon just barely made it to his designated lever, before he was thrown back again the second he threw it down.

There was a tremendous sound of mechanical scraping, loud enough to partially deafen Kyon. The Doctor continued, manipulating several widgets at once from his side of the console.

"Do the third sequence!" he commanded. "You have ten seconds before we fry!"

Kyon leapt forward, furiously scrambling at the controls; he punched the 9-digit code into a keypad in precise sequence, he flipped the position of several switches, and finally, with two seconds to spare, pressed down the tiny red button that actually did something.

Kyon's ears were suddenly spared the agonising sounds as the TARDIS suddenly stopped shaking.

The Doctor, now more frustrated than ever, threw himself back into the nearest chair.

"And that makes seven." he sighed, legs crossed, hand rubbing his brow. "Seventh time in a row we've tried... just about got her into the area they're being held when she hit a kinetic barrier - slid along it like a bit of wood against a linisher. if you hadn't hit that button the TARDIS woulda gotten a lot smoother a lot faster."

So, here we are; defeated, utterly, or else something very close.

A whole week, stuck in this TARDIS with the Doctor, trying the same thing over and over again, and the novelty of being in this situation is wearing off.

Somehow - we don't know how - the 'Discord Paradise' were able to seal off _years _from us; the moment the TARDIS left the school again we were thrown a hundred years into the future, away from Japan, landing somewhere in the south Pacific.

"What's the year count up to now?" I asked, glancing at the rotatable screen that displayed alien text.

The Doctor leant over slightly to look at it, then threw his arms down dejectedly.

"1996 to 2013," he proclaimed. "_Seventeen_ year's worth of time we can't even access now."

The time lock started, and ended, on Christmas day; at seemingly random intervals, the time lock was getting larger.

I was starting to feel like this was a problem the Doctor could never solve - after all, he only had one idea (namely, throw ourselves at the target until it gets fixed), and after trying that seven times, it was clear it wasn't going to work the next seven times either.

If only we had someone to call for assistance.

"There's nobody out there that can deal with this," the Doctor stated. "Unless we can somehow find a weakness in the time lock, the only way to find your friends would be to take the slower path."

Ah, the slower path.

I've been along that route before - although, to be fair I was unconscious (with Miss Asahina at my side) for the entire two year span of it.

We had discussed, after the third attempt at brute forcing our way through the problem, the possibility of one or both of us going to Japan before the time lock started and simply waiting it out; i had to reject this proposal, as I don't really want to explain to my family how I could possibly grow a few decades older in a single night.

Of course, my rejection of the 'slow path' idea was entirely dependent on the fact that I was going to see my family again.

I pushed those depressing ideas out of my mind; for the moment, we need answers, not more deliberation over the same thing once again.

"How's the time dampener doing?" he asked me. "Still green?"

I looked down at my shirt; attached to it was a small device, held in place with a safety pin, that emitted a gentle green glow. This was a small device linking me to the current time of the TARDIS; as long as I wore this, I was immune to the temporal feedback loops I had been exposed to.

"Still looks green from my end," I said. "What's it look like to you?"

"Slightly orange, leaning towards the not-so-pink end. You're drifting a few picoseconds out of sync relative to everyone else; as long as it looks green to you, you'll be fine."

The Doctor sprang to his feet, face now full of less anger and more mild curiosity. He began fiddling pointlessly with a few of the TARDIS' controls.

"C'mon, Kyon, think of something; all that wisdom crammed into your head, you'll come up with something."

Seems he forgot that he had to lock away those memories he accidentally gave me.  
"I'm not talking about those ones," he replied. "The ones you gained from experience; after everything you said you've clearly got real potential - hey, you didn't give up after Haruhi disappeared, right?"

"No, I guess I didn't, but Nagato was the one that put everything in place-"

"What about the summer time loops?" he continued, spinning round as he flipped a lever wildly. "I saw that, actually - would've stepped in around the 16,000th loop but, hey, you found the solution all on your own!"

Wait, he was aware of the endless recursions of time? How long has he been monitoring us? Did he see it by chance, or-

Wait a damn picosecond there.

Mikuru is a time traveller, meaning she has access to a form of time (and possibly space) travel; I don't know the details, but she's part of some agency that has a whole bunch of time travellers.

Nagato also hinted that there are many forms of time travel; she could outright freeze time if she needed to.

If the TARDIS' 'materialisation' form of time travel doesn't work, could another form work?

The moment I finished saying this to the Doctor, his phone rang.

A cautious look on both our faces, he carefully picked up the corded phone.

"...This is the Doctor speaking."

There was an unsettlingly long pause; the Doctor glanced at me halfway through the silence.

"He's with me... yeah, I patched that, he's stable now."

I tilted my head slightly in confusion. The Doctor held up his finger and mouthed the words 'one minute'.

The Doctor lowered his voice, seemingly angered.

"You do realise the problem is _expanding_, right? If you're wrong any one of us could get stranded in a different time and place."

There was another long pause. The Doctor's face went through a wide range of emotions in a short space of time, channelling giddiness, unease, and a subtle hint of glee.

After about a minute of him not saying anything, the Doctor lowered the phone.

"So, you were saying about your friends?" he said warmly as he strode around the console.

"Doctor... _could _alternative forms of time travel work? Are the 'alternative' forms really different enough for it?"

The Doctor smiled at me from across the console, hand hovering above a lever.

"Guess what?" he smiled.

Somehow, I dreaded his response.

"Your friend just rang," he continued. "We're going to find out if you're right or not."

The Doctor pulled the lever sharply; the TARDIS began moving in for a landing.

"We've got a date with Mikuru Asahina!"

What?!

When?!

"_December Second!"_ the Doctor proclaimed. "_Nishinomiya, Japan!"_

Wha-?

"Nineteen-ninety six!"

"That's right on the edge of the time lock! Why do we have to meet up at such a highly dangerous... time?"

The Doctor laughed.

The TARDIS suddenly plunged downwards, lifting both of us off our feet a few inches.

"Cause _you _said so!" he yelled. "_Geronimo-!"_

"_You idiot-!"_

And with that, we crashed once again.


	11. Chapter 11 Mikuru, Cubed

Kyon took a deep breath as he stepped out of the TARDIS for the first time in a week.

The air was chilly, but not uncomfortably so; there was no snow to be seen nearby, as usual limited mostly to the far off mountains in the distance, barely visible between the gaps of buildings.

The TARDIS had landed in the usual gathering area for all weekend SOS Brigade activities. For some strange reason, Kyon felt that the station looked more modern than it would ten years in the future - at which point, it would somehow feel more 90's in design.

Kyon had little time to monologue internally about the specific feeling of the area around him, as that was rapidly changed by the appearance of an orange-haired woman in front of him.  
Her back was turned, and she was faced entirely in the opposite direction. Kyon felt a moment of abrupt hesitation, snapped back to reality as the Doctor exited the TARDIS behind him.

The Doctor was smiling; a smaller grin grew across Kyon's face as well. The woman turned slowly, revealing herself to the two men.

"Hello, Kyon... Doctor." said a slightly older Mikuru Asahina. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Something felt off in Kyon's mind; this was Miss Asahina (big), that much was certain, however...

"Well, she's a fair bit older than before," the Doctor commented, extending his hand out. "Nice to meet you too, Miss Mikuru! Lovely name that, means something like 'yet to happen', right? Love it when names fit so well, like John Sheppard the Sheppard, or sound nice, like 'come along, Pond'!"

Mikuru simply smiled, shaking the Doctor's hand gently as he rattled on.

Kyon came to realise exactly who she was.

"Did you meet me for the first time yet?"

Mikuru looked at Kyon with a mixed look; slight confusion, remorse, even guilt?

"Do you mean... have I come back from the future to introduce myself?"

Kyon nodded simply.

"No, I haven't, Kyon. This is my first trip back in time since I left you."

Kyon's suspicions were confirmed; this version of Mikuru (whom he internally dubbed 'Miss Asahina (younger)') was both older than Miss Asahina (small) that went to his school, and Miss Asahina (big) that had helped Kyon, twice now, save the day.

Time travel was always accompanied by confusing terms.

At that point, Miss Asahina (younger) seemed to be struggling to container herself; clearly remembering a lot of conflicting emotions all at once, I became desperate to change the subject, my mind drawing a blank to the problems at hand.

So, the question of the moment was whether or not she was the one that summoned us here.

"No, I'm not," she said, smiling gently once more. "I was only given the orders to come to this date and time."

A look of realisation suddenly came across the Doctor's face; both his arms flailed slightly as he looked around nervously.

"Ahh," he muttered. "That's not good..."

"What isn't?"

The Doctor glanced at Miss Asahina (younger); he clenched his teeth, choosing his words carefully.

Or so I thought.

"Uhh, space, time, things, wibbly-wobbly things are about to happen - you'll probably feel them in a second."

Like someone had put a cattle prod to her back, Miss Asahina (younger) shot upright in sudden surprise.

"Wait, is this right?" she said, putting two fingers to her left wrist. "That... that can't be, I don't remember it-!"

She shuttered violently, her eyes wide with shock.

What the heck is going on? Why are these two in a panic?"

"I... **I'm **time travelling!" Miss Asahina (younger) yelped. "Where did I put it...!"

Hastily, Miss Asahina (younger) pulled out what seemed to be a small silver bracelet, and hastily placed it threw her left hand.

A second later, Miss Asahina (younger) seemed to vanish from view; the features of her face and body were indistinguishable - though she was clearly still there, it was almost impossible to define her.

At that point, there was a strange, distorted noise coming from a few meters away.

The Doctor and I turned slowly, looking to the source.

Miss Asahina (small) was starting to materialise into existence.

Like water condensing on an ice cold window, she faded into this time quite slowly. It was a good ten seconds before she fully arrived, at which point she moved gently.

Miss Asahina (small) lowered her hands from her head, breathing a sigh of relief.

She opened her eyes, and immediately took note of me, then the Doctor, then the TARDIS, in that order.

With that, she jumped back sharply, somehow choking on her own sharp inhale.

"Miss Asahina-!"

"Temporal re-alignment!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Love it! Haven't seen it in ages. Ooh, it's a bit outdated though, your version, you should get that updated."

The Doctor had taken a long stride towards her, outstretching his hand.

The mere presence of the Doctor caused Miss Asahina (small) to go into defensive overload; on the verge of tears, she practically curled up into a ball at the Doctor's feet.

"Miss Asahina, please," I began. "We need your-"  
"**Asahina!"** a booming, deep voice said. **"Stand up this instant!"**

It took a good moment for all three of us to realise that the distorted voice belonged to Miss Asahina (younger). Miss Asahina (small) stood up slowly, her face showing confusion, rather than fear.

"Ehh? Agent seven?" she muttered. "What are you doing here? Y-you're not supposed to interact with others outside _classified information_."

"**I was ordered to arrive here, as you were**." Miss Asahina (younger) continued in that strange voice.

This confirmed my suspicions that the Mikuru of my time was working with, maybe even taking orders from, future versions of herself.

"Right then, 'Agent Seven'," said the Doctor. "Who sent you here, then?"

"I did."

At that moment, a third person arrived; she appeared with little fanfare, simply appearing nearby with a gust of wind.

"Agent Seven, I order you to remove your perception filter."

All four of us had our eyes fixed upon the newcomer, all of us confused greatly as to her presence.

"From this point in time, our timelines are out of sync; once we go our separate ways, the memories of our interaction will be retroactively removed from the timeline."

This was yet another copy of Mikuru Asahina - one much older than any I had ever encountered before. To respectfully guess her age, she must've been in her mid forties at this point; she was wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans that were incongruous to her otherwise charming appearance.

She rolled back the sleeve of her right arm, revealing a high-tech device strapped to her wrist. She pressed a single button on it; a strange mist seemed to disappear around her, making her seem more tangible.

Miss Asahina (younger) took off the perception filtering bracelet, revealing herself once more. Miss Asahina (small), strangely, didn't seem too worried now she knew who 'agent seven' really was.

"Oh, good," the Doctor muttered, clapping his hands together. "Three of you... in the same place and time."

"I understand it isn't an ideal situation," Miss Asahina (big) began. "However, being that crossing my own timeline is the only way to achieve a solution to the situation at hand, and that I finally have the clearance to accomplish this, there was little choice but to summon you all here."

Miss Asahina (big) pressed a few buttons on her wrist device; a strange sound and flash of light emanated from the bracelet of Miss Asahina (younger).

"Agent Seven," the older Mikuru said. "I am temporarily granting you access level Beta. You are free to use the temporal synchroniser whenever you feel is necessary; you have three uses, so use them well."

Mikuru (younger) bowed respectfully to her older self.

She turned to face me, smiling ever so slightly.

"So, Kyon," Miss Asahina (big) said. "Do you have the transforming device Yuki gave you?"

Out of my pocket I took out what appeared to be a solid cube of dark purple plastic.

This was the 'Christmas present' that Nagato had given me; the one time I had used it, it had transformed into some sort of trouble detector. It had led me right to the doctor.

I hadn't even noticed it had transformed back and slipped itself into my pocket; the moment it had slipped my mind, it stored itself.

The Doctor suddenly locked eyes with the device, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"Where did you get that?" he inquired, glancing between the cube and the sonic.

"It was a Christmas present from Nagato," I said. "It turned into some weird detector device; it's what led me to the building you were in."

I turned to Miss Asahina (big).

"It transformed back into this shape whenever I forgot about it, and it hasn't worked since. What is it?"

Miss Asahina (big) pressed a few more buttons as she spoke.

"It's a device one of our agents acquired in the future," she said. "It's one of many similar devices that can transform into an exact replica of any item a particular _Person Of Interest_ has created over their lives."  
"Who's this one keyed into, then?" the Doctor asked. "Some future scientist or madman, I assume?"

"Yes. You."

The device suddenly started glowing slightly; at the same time, it seemed to be getting lighter, nearly floating out of my hand.

"Unfortunately, when you acquired it, it was low on power; Yuki took my orders literally, and gave it to you with enough power to do one specific task - to find the Doctor."

"When did you give Nagato the device?" I asked.

"Nine days ago, relative to you. To be precise, December 24th, shortly after you- _we_, restored the data of reality back to its original form."

The two other Mikuru exchanged confused glances. It occurred to me that neither one of them was ahead enough in their own timeline to have gone back in time of their own volition, and so neither of them knew about the incident with Haruhi's disappearance.

"Why does he need an invention replicator?" asked the Doctor.

"I'll be honest, Doctor, that one was mostly made so that we had emergency access to the Sonic Screwdrivers. Give it a try, Kyon."

Holding the mysterious cube in my hand, I cleared my mind as much as possible.

I could feel my thoughts become reality; as I imagined my need for the Sonic, I could feel it take shape.

Within seconds, the cube began to fold itself, intersecting its own geometry; sure enough, within a minute it had turned into an exact copy of the Doctor's current Sonic Screwdriver.

There was a minute's pause. The only thing breaking the silence was the sound of the winter wind rushing through my ears.

"Why am I here?" asked Miss Asahina (small). "I... I don't see why I'm needed, I don't have anything to offer."

Miss Asahina (big) grinned slightly, and seemed to stand up straighter.

"Simple enough; The Doctor needs you."

After saying that, the oldest Mikuru began to press further buttons on her wrist device.

"Right then, my role here is done. Good luck to all four of you - or three, however you look at it."

Miss Asahina (big) began to disappear from the current moment in time - but not before getting a final line in.

"_Doctor, remember your own plan for once_!"

And with that, the far-future Mikuru was gone.

"Right then," Miss Asahina (younger) began. "I think I know what my role is; pick a date, any date."

The Doctor smiled, rubbing his hands together - either for the cold or out of excitement.

"Be a bit more specific," he said. "There's seven years for us to go after, after all."  
"Why don't we just try to get you back where you were?" she continued. "December 26th, just after 9 am."

Miss Asahina (younger) smiled as she raised a hand to just above her right temple.

"Good luck, Kyon."

Slightly slower than the older Mikuru, the middle Mikuru also vanished from this moment of time.

"Right then!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Enough chatting with your future selves for one day, right?"

The remaining Mikuru didn't respond, making herself smaller as usual - this time, however, not showing fear, but rather apprehension.

The Doctor pushed one of the front doors of the TARDIS open.

"Right, everyone in!"

The Doctor walked in by himself.

Myself and Mikuru stood outside for a little while longer.

I noticed she was staring intently at the TARDIS, struggling with internal conflict.

"Everything alright?"

"...When I joined... the time agents, I had to swear that there were a few things I would never do. One of them was... I shouldn't enter the Doctor's vessel, under any circumstances."

"Was crossing your own timeline another thing you promised never to do?"

Mikuru gave a slight, but incredibly warm and sincere smile.

"Yes, it was."

With not a single moment of further hesitation, we both stepped on board the TARDIS.


End file.
